Dr Johnson's House

Samuel Johnson moved into 17 Gough Square in 1749 and stayed a decade, spending close to nine years in the garret assembling A Dictionary of the English Language. The house was built in the 1690s for Richard Gough, a City wool merchant, and is the only one of its development still standing. Cecil Harmsworth bought it derelict in 1911, restored it and opened it to the public; a trust has held it ever since.

What survives is a Grade I listed townhouse rather than a set piece. There is panelling, an open staircase, wide floorboards, window seats in every room, and a front door that still carries its original chain and spiked iron bar. Harmsworth was firm that the place should read as a home and not a museum, and that dinner parties should always be welcome in it. The Trust still works that way: unlike most collections, the furniture and objects can be moved, so the rooms follow a table plan rather than dictate one.

Hire is taken on the whole house, by day or evening, any day of the week. The first-floor Withdrawing Room is the principal space, a gallery room lit on three sides that holds eighty standing or forty seated and divides in two when a reception wants two halves. Above it sit the second-floor Library and Exhibition Room for smaller groups, and at the top the Garret itself. Catering, flowers, music and lighting come through the House's approved suppliers. The square is quiet, off the traffic, and a vehicle can reach the door.